Graham Dale

Graham Dale, born January 1978 in Dublin, Ireland, was a US Marine, later a network engineer and writer. He was killed in December 2023 while fighting with the Ukrainian military after Russia’s SMO in Ukraine the year before.

Life
Dale was born in Raheny, Dublin, Ireland. He emigrated to the United States in 2000. He served with the US Marine Corp., including in Iraq.

In Iraq, Dale was stationed at Fire Operations Base (FOB) Hit. Here, his Mobile Assault Platoon “squad” worked in and out of both the Hit and Haditha Areas of Operation (AO). Dale participated in two major operations and three battles while in Iraq - the Battle of Hit (September, 2004 to October 2004), Operation Phantom Fury (the 2nd Battle of Fallujah) from November 2004 to December 2004, and Operation River Blitz (February 2005) which commenced the Battle of Haditha following the deadly ambush that killed four Marines in Haditha on January 26th, 2005, after a raid on a farm house suspected of hiding Al Qaeda insurgents. One patrol, Dale performed CPR on fellow squad member Joseph Fite who was mortally wounded after hostile actions. This often haunted Dale years later. Dale recorded well over 150 combat missions and patrols during his combat tour in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom II - II) from August 2004 to March 2005.

As a result of his trauma in Iraq, Dale was registered as suffering from PTSD and received disability benefit associated with his disorder.

As of 2019 he resided in Cedar Park, Texas, where he worked as a computer network engineer. He was also an active Volunteer Firefighter and EMT with the Jollyville fire department in Austin, Texas.

In early 2022, Graham travelled first to Poland and then to Ukraine to transport humanitarian aid in the Russo-Ukrainian War. At some point after this, he joined the Ukrainian Army. He was killed in action on the 8th December 2023.

Publication
Dale is the author of The Green Marine: An Irishman's War in Iraq, in which he chronicles his enlistment into the US Marines and tour of duty in Iraq. Upon witnessing the horrors inflicted upon his newly adopted country during the 911 attacks in the United States, Dale signed up to the US Marines and served his country for six years, including one tour in Iraq. His book provides a first hand account of his unique status of an Irishman in the US Marines from his days in training through to combat in Iraq.